Losers and Winners

A while back I developed my idea of American culture. I think of the unique American form of democracy, and unbridled consumption. That's it. Not cowboys or baseball, or anything else. Those two things are really just media for consumption -- Cowboys drive dualies between 2,000 hectare ranches nowadays to feed an already overfed nation, and baseball players are paid millions and live in large nurseries. Can you guess I'm not too keen on 50% of who we are?

The other half, well, we do have representative democracy. And while I might have a few gripes about it, overall, when I look around and see how many really fucked up other places there are in the world, I do have a great respect for that institution. But I worry that unbridled consumption will infect it, too.

As a penultimate optimist, your author is sure the tanking US dollar and rising energy prices are boons for quite a few Americans. Not all people suffer from these supposed drains on the economy. What it is is a drain on our own internal consumptive patterns. Exporting consumption to other nations, well, that's where we really shine with a falling dollar. We were so good at it for so long, we've now become 'concerned' about Chinese and Indian 'usage' and depleting or jacking up the price of steel, palladium, oil, and gorilla testicles. Pretty soon, there won't be any of those things left.

But who among us benefits from a flattening dollar and high oil? I say plenty. Although some can no longer cheaply afford their daily 43 mile commute to downtown Atlanta and buy $4 lattes every morning, there are winners:

In 1994, when the yen rose against the dollar, Eastman Kodak likely made a killing. Just before the digital camera age.
LBS -- Local Bike Shops. More tires, helmets, and spandex sold as gas rises. Although the cost of importing these items from China has gone up...the bike shop proprietor wins.
Colorado horsemen, exporting horsemeat to Europe. They've likely seen a handsome increase in revenues.
Hyundai car salesmen. Although there's less profit margin on small vehicles, they are selling more of them. The consumer is passed on the increased cost of importing the cars from Korea...but the salesmen win.
NYMEX commodities traders. They've really won.
San Francisco callgirls. And callboys. All that increased Asian tourism has really perked up business.

Get into one of these career opportunities if you've been furloughed as a mortgage underwriter. You'll be glad you did.